Amex Platinum vs. Citi Strata Elite

Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Two of the most popular premium travel rewards cards are the new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card and American Express Platinum Card® — not new, but recently overhauled. Both cards charge eye-watering annual fees, but they’ve got substance to back them up.

Here’s how to quickly decide whether you should open the Amex Platinum Card or the Citi Strata Elite (or both).

Don’t let these annual fees immediately scare you away. Premium credit cards with annual fees like these typically come with ongoing benefits worth much more than their price points. If a credit card’s perks will save you more than you’re spending on fees, its annual fee is worth paying.

We’ll cover each card’s perks in a minute to help you decide which annual fee is worth paying for your situation.

The Amex Platinum Card currently offers as high as 175,000 American Express Membership Rewards® points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months from account opening. Amex points are worth up to one cent each for most redemptions, but it’s possible to get considerably more from them when you take advantage of Amex’s transfer partners. For example, a points bounty like this could easily net you over $3,000 in flights, if you transfer to the right airline partners.

The Citi Strata Elite currently offers 100,000 bonus Citi ThankYou® Points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. Similar to Amex points, it’s not difficult to receive one cent in value from your rewards — and a much better value when redeemed for travel with a ThankYou transfer partner. You may be able to squeeze $1,500 in flights from this bonus with little effort.

• 5X points on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel on up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year
• 5X points on prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
• 1X points on all other eligible purchases

The Citi Strata Elite features more impressive return rates than the Amex Platinum Card, though it still doesn’t offer a wide range of bonus categories. You’ll get:

• 12X points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked via Citi Travel
• 6X points on airfare booked through Citi Travel
• 6X points at restaurants on Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET (dubbed Citi Nights)
• 3X points at restaurants at any other time
• 1.5X points on all other eligible purchases

The Citi Strata Elite takes the cake with its 1.5X minimum rate of return.

Again, both the Amex Platinum Card and Citi Strata Elite earn flexible rewards that can be traded for anything from cash back to gift cards to Amazon purchases. Here are a few popular ways to use them.

Book travel through the online bank portal

American Express and Citi provide proprietary online booking agencies where you can “buy” travel with points at a fixed rate. Both allow you to book airfare, hotels and more for up to one cent each (though Amex points are sometimes worth just 0.7 cents each, depending on how you use them).

Transfer partners

Far and away the best use of your rewards is to transfer them to partner travel programs. Converting your points into airline miles or hotel points can potentially result in a value upwards of two cents per point — or even more. Both the Amex Platinum Card and Citi Strata Elite have the same number of transfer partners, but the partners are slightly different.

Below is a list to help you decide which points program may fit better with your general travel goals. All transfer partners are 1:1 unless otherwise specified.

Trade for cash

Cashing out your rewards is not the most valuable option — but it’s certainly one of the easiest.

Amex points are typically worth just 0.6 cents each when redeemed as a statement credit, while Citi ThankYou Points can be redeemed for 0.75 cents with the Citi Strata Elite. That said, if you also hold either the Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees) or Citi Custom Cash® Card, you can cash out your ThankYou Points at a rate of one cent per point.

The Amex Platinum Card and the Citi Strata Elite come with some similar benefits, but they also offer unique and impressive perks that can save you hundreds — or even $1,000+ — per year.

Lounge access

The Amex Platinum Card and Citi Strata Elite both confer solid airport lounge access to varying lounge networks. Airport lounges typically offer free snacks and alcohol, comfy chairs, fast Wi-Fi, and more.

The Amex Platinum Card gives you entry into American Express Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass airport lounges (enrollment required), Plaza Premium Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs when flying an eligible same-day Delta flight, and more. 

The Citi Strata Elite also comes with Priority Pass airport lounge access, as well as up to four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each year.

These lounge perks are each worth many hundreds of dollars annually. No matter which card you’ve got, you’ll have access to more than 1,500 airport lounges worldwide.

Statement credits

The American Express is the undisputed king when it comes to statement credits. You can get well over $2,000 in value in credits without trying that hard. Here are some of the highlights:

• Up to $600 hotel credit: Get up to $300 in statement credits biannually for eligible Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts or The Hotel Collection prepaid bookings (The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay).
• Up to $200 in Uber Cash: Receive $15 per month ($35 in December) deposited into your Uber Wallet after adding your card to your Uber account. Use your Uber Cash on rides and orders in the U.S. when you select an Amex Card for your transaction (terms apply).*
• Up to $400 in Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits per quarter when using your card on eligible Resy purchase (there’s over 10,000 of them in the U.S.).*
• Up to $300 in Digital Entertainment Credit: Receive $25 in credit per month when you pay for eligible purchases with the Platinum Card® at your choice of one or more of the following providers: Disney+, a Disney+ Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Paramount+, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, Peacock and The Wall Street Journal.*
• $120 Uber One Credit: Receive up to $120 in statement credits each calendar year for an auto-renewing Uber One membership (terms apply). 
• Up to $100 in Saks credits: Get up to $50 in credit at Saks between January and June and another up to $50 in credit between July and December. No minimum purchase required.*
• Up to $300 in lululemon credits: Get $75 per quarter in statement credits for spending at lululemon stores (excluding outlet stores).*
• Up to $155 in Walmart+ credits: Receive up to $12.95 per month after paying for a monthly Walmart+ membership with your Platinum Card. You’ll get perks like discounts on gas, free shipping, and more (Plus Ups not eligible; subject to auto-renewal).*
• Up to $200 in airline fee credits: Receive up to $200 back per calendar year for incidental fees charged by your selected qualifying airline (qualifying airlines are subject to change. See terms and conditions for more details).
• $200 Oura ring credit: Receive $200 in statement credits when you purchase an Oura Ring at Ouraring.com.*
• Up to $209 CLEAR Plus® credit: Receive up to $209 per year in statement credits for a CLEAR® Plus membership (excluding any applicable taxes and fees; subject to auto-renewal).*
• $120 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit: Receive either a statement credit for a Global Entry ($120 every four years) or a TSA PreCheck application fee or (up to $85 every 4.5 years, through a TSA official enrollment provider) for expedited airport security and expedited U.S. customs screening when charged to your Platinum Card®.*

*Enrollment required

Meanwhile, the Citi Strata Elite comes with a handful of valuable credits of its own:

• Up to $300 in annual hotel credit: Book two or more nights at a hotel through Citi Travel and receive $300 off, once per calendar year.
• Up to $200 in annual “Splurge Credit”: Choose up to two eligible brands to receive a combined reimbursement of up to $200 per calendar year. Brands include American Airlines (with exclusions), Best Buy, Live Nation (exclusions apply), and more.
• Up to $200 in annual Blacklane Credit: Book premium global chauffeur service Blacklane and receive up to $100 between January and June and another $100 between July and December.
• Up to $120 in TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit: Receive a statement credit to reimburse either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® every four years.

As you can see, both cards offer enough credits to easily offset their respective annual fees. However, the Amex Platinum Card has exponentially more potential value.

Additional benefits

Both the Amex Platinum Card and Citi Strata Elite come with varying levels of travel and shopping protections. They both offer a form of:

Both cards also give you access to hotel booking programs that deliver elite-like benefits — from free breakfast to property credits to room upgrades when available through Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts® or The Reserve by Citi Travel®.

It’s also worth noting that the Amex Platinum Card offers myriad hotel and rental car elite statuses after you enroll, including Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Hertz President’s Circle and Leaders Club Sterling Status.

Terms apply for all benefits. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details.

*Amex Platinum benefit underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

**Amex Platinum benefit underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

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For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here.

Information about the Citi Custom Cash® Card has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.